Value Fund

A mutual fund that employs a value approach to investing is referred to as a value fund. A manager of a value fund will select stocks he/she believes are fundamentally undervalued for inclusion in the portfolio. Value fund managers typically screen for companies trading at a P/E discount to the overall market or companies in a turnaround mode. A value fund is more focused on safety than a growth fund so most value fund managers look for mature companies with ample cash flows that have an established track record of paying dividends. Value fund managers generally outperform growth fund managers during periods when the economy is weak. Because a value fund derives a portion of its returns from dividends and is not dependent exclusively on share price gains, a value fund tends to be less volatile than a growth fund.